hypochondriac

Personally I think that's a reasonable opinion to have. I don't necessarily agree with you (particularly the bit about McCarthy) but it's not a mad opinion to hold by any means.

McCarthy is a terrible goalkeeper, I'm not sure you will find anyone who would argue otherwise. Are you suggesting that it was an irrelevance who we had in goal last year? That if we had Ederson we wouldn't have conceded less and gained more points as a result?

So your view is that it's only on here that people think he's not good enough currently to be our number one starting keeper and that his failures last year contributed to our relegation? Because that's the view of pretty much every saints fan I have spoken to.

Please provide the evidence of one poster laying our relegation at the feet of the goalkeeper? That sounds more like extremist rubbish than anyone else has posted on this thread. Literally no one has said that.

What do you make of the fact that statistically he was the worst keeper last year at letting in shots that weren't in difficult areas to save?

It's difficult to discuss hypothetical, but surely you would accept that getting in a more proven and skilled keeper would mor likely result in less goals conceded and more points? Using your logic, it's a bit like saying if we had signed Haaland last year, we wouldn't know for certain that he wouldn't have got us more points than Che.

Why is that ridiculous? Statistically he was the worst goalkeeper in the league last year along with the Leeds keeper. He undoubtedly cost us goals and points due to his own goalkeeping ability and the knock-on effect that has on the players around him. I'm not sure how that can even be argued, even if you accept that it wasn't the main reason for relegation and that lots of other factors combined together to achieve it.

There's nothing extreme about pointing out that making a bad error that leads to a goal once a game is below average for a first team keeper and is likely to cost us points in tighter games where we don't score 4. Statistically he was the worst keeper last year for saving shots that were saveable. Going on the evidence so far, it seems like that will continue.

It's not nonsense. There were loads of reasons we went down last year and Bazunu being rubbish is certainly one of them. I'm not sure I agree with someone who has the opinion that he was the main reason, but it wouldn't be entirely outlandish for someone to think that. He was certainly a big reason.

Looks like you could be onto something given that @Ed Rooneyseems to have scarpered.

Thing is he may turn into an excellent keeper with time. That time isn't now though which is why he shouldn't be our first choice.

Sam Johnstone at Palace. There's loads.

Take your pick. To choose two at random, last year I'd have preferred Neto and Navas to Bazunu in goal.

I meant more than Pope. This question has been asked and answered a ton. Do you not think we coukd have signed anyone else? Did other teams around us make a gk signing in the summer and survive?

No he said he cost more than Bazunu which he did. Plenty of more experienced and better keepers we could have signed that weren't Bazunu.

Amem to that. The fullbacks can be entirely ineffective as far as I'm concerned as long as I'm entertained and we get some wins.

There's advantages and disadvantages to loads of formations and tactics. What we can say for definite is that last year despite the positives, the football was mostly awful and we stunk the place out. Far better to try something completely different even if we lose one of the only positive aspects which was the effectiveness of our attacking fullbacks.

I'd be quite disappointed if that was the striker charged with firing us to promotion given his injury record.

Personally I'm happy to give him a chance but we should buy another keeper now to challenge him or replace him if he proves himself not up to it. If we fail to do that then we are effectively stuck with the problem until January just as we were last year.

The Southampton first team gk position should not be the place for Bazunu to learn his trade. We want a reliable finished article or close to it in goal with a youngster with potential as backup. We won't do that but that's what we should do for definite.

Some good saves but then another error today. Not assuaging my fears about the season.

The one player? More than Alcaraz?

I'm surprised we haven't had more links for the likes of ABK, KWP, Sulemana, Adams etc. Not that I want them all to go but some of them will have to.

I think I'd be surprised if we didn't make the playoffs where anything can happen but automatic seems unlikely at the moment.

Personally I'd take a player who has proven they can work under our current manager and who is most recently in form over a player who performed in this league with different players and teams a few years ago and who has just been relegated and is out of form. I think there would be a noticeable difference.